"Good Boys" is a Disgusting, but Well-Acted and Often Hilarious Rogen Comedy
By: Keaton Marcus
DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 15, YOU MUST ASK YOUR PARENTS IF YOU ARE ALLOWED, IF THEY SAY NO…IT MEANS NO!
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70/100 “sweet/sour”
Producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have hit another money-making success with their newest effort, "Good Boys", which feels like a wild ride focusing on 6th graders swear, play with sex toys, and drinking alcohol. The film is undermined by the tendency to rely upon extensively gross-out humor, and pratfalls generally made for adults--but this middle-school fun-house of a movie benefits on the agreeably juvenile performances, and constant yuks. So yes, if you are a fan of 12-year-old virgins getting sex terms wrong, and fiddling with dildos now and then--by all means, head to the multiplex. However, be warned that eventually, they wear out their welcome a little with anecdotes that seem worn-out. Don't worry, to keep us invested in the solid if an unspectacular picture is the excellent teamwork of its three stars.
Max, played by the brilliant "Wonder" and "Room" star Jacob Tremblay, sets the scene as the guy to put your attention to. He's 12 years old and has just started to get through the "rough life" of sixth-grade. It's a little disconcerting to see such a sweet little boy in his previous films go to a swearing, masturbating, and undeniably hilarious juvenile in his newest role. His other two buds enter soon after, named Lucas (Kieth L. Williams loving lasagna, and digging in) and Thor who is played by a scene-stealing Brady Noon. They"re known as the "Bean Bag Boys", Max is trying to score a smooch with his crush Brixlee (Millie Davis), Lucas is dealing with his parents' recent divorce and Thor is having a grudge with himself on whether to pursue his dream as a singer, or stick with the cool kids. However, they all want one thing--to fit in.
That's when the so-called "Scooter Gang" arrives, who dares them to beat the record of three-sips of beer (Tweens). Max and Lucas are up to the task and take a sip, but Thor fails to meet the "challenge", and is called "sippy cup" for the rest of the picture. Confusing right, maybe when I explain it, but it all goes very smoothly in the cinema. Remember Max and his journey to land a first kiss? Well, the problem is, he doesn't quite know-how. This leads to a funny, but the disgusting scene where the gang finds a "CPR dummy" (a sex doll) in the parents' bedroom. You guessed it, Tremblay's Max gets right in there for the kiss before commenting that his first wet-one was "sticky" and "there were hairs inside." Don't try this at home kids.
Oh, but they are not done. Director Gene Stupninsky will not stop with making the audiences go "eww". After Max destroys his father's work drone (spying), they decide to sell their valuable card for cash to get a new one. They then ring Peter Pan 69 for the deal, who appears in the household moments later, played by an eminent Stephen Merchant. Scared of sexual assault, the three Tweens run to retrieve some "weapons" from the infamous bedroom. These defenses turn out to be an assortment of dildos, anal beads, and the leather mask. Unconvincingly telling the trio that he is in fact, not a pedo, the adult card-collector takes the aforementioned CPR doll after the deal fails. Told ya so, Stupininsky and Rogen try there best at freaking out the theater in a film that features stellar performances, but steadfast gross-outs.
The final opinion is: While "Good Boys" is occasionally taken from greatness by the overly used sexual jokes, a talented young cast and constant enough laughs get the audiences through a roller-coaster of sickening pratfalls...$TREAM IT
By: Keaton Marcus
Opening Weekend: 21.4m
Domestic Total: 83.1m
Worldwide Total: 110.9m
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